T 58 
.B75 
Copy 1 



Some Aspects of Efficiency" 



BY 



WILLIAM GEORGE BRUCE 



The Wh te House 



Some Aspects of Efficiency 



BY 

WILLIAM GEORGE BRUCE 



Address delivered before the 

Milwaukee Efficiency Society, 

Hotel Wisconsin, July 16, 1914 
MILWAUKEE. WISCONSIN 



-^6* 
^ 



.6 



Some Aspects of Efficiency 



INTRODUCTION, 

The so-called great events in history assume a somewhat 
different aspect when measured by modern standards of efficiency. 
They undergo a change in the values accorded them by the older 
chroniclers and writers. The dangerous fascination wielded by 
hero-rulers, the spectacle of incompetents sitting on thrones and 
espousing the ''divine right" of the King, the Christian incon- 
sistency of conducting religious wars — all stand out in bolder 
relief as picturesque absurdities in human inefficiency. 

The story of the Sabine women suing for peace between the 
combatants of that day becomes an eloquent plea for efficiency; 
Gutenberg rises upon a pedestal higher than that accorded to any 
warrior; the Magna Charta assumes a new lustre and magnifi- 
cence; the ''Renaissance" becomes an impressive awakening to 
efficiency; the pages of history recording the Augustan Age of 
Rome and the Ehzabethan Age of England, become instructive, 
while the Thirty Years' War which reduced the population of 
Germany from thirty to twelve million, descends to the gloomiest 
depths of human strife. The French Revolution becomes the 
world's most frightful rebuke to inefficiency. 

Aspiration sinks to brutal appetite, nobility to knavery and 
fame to infamy. The pomp and gUtter of war sink into ugly 
contention while the peaceful pursuits assume a new attraction 
and importance. The contributions made by the Hebrew race 
to religion and morality, by the Greeks to architecture, sculpture 
and the drama, and by the Roman people in the construction of 
aqueducts, roads and the establishment of law and government, 
become more impressive and exalted. 

Ignorance and selfishness, the two great evils of the world, al- 
ways stood, and even today stand, as the greatest menace to man. 
Disorder, war, plague and famine have been the traditional and 
recurring evidences of inefficiency notwithstanding that educa- 
tion and justice have struggled against it in all ages. The pages 
of history are replete with records of that martyrdom which 
meant a better world for those that came to live in it. It is the 
struggle of light against darkness, of efficiency against inefficiency, 

3 



that impels the great march of progress which will continue per- 
sistently and triumphantly. 

BEGINNING OF EFFICIENCY, 

When primitive man, who obeyed the law of self-preserva- 
tion by instinctively seeking his food, raiment and shelter, was 
followed by a race of men who ''chipped flints to a narrow point," 
human eflaciency had its beginning. They were followed by a 
''tool-using" people who rendered their food more palatable, their 
raiment more serviceable and emerged from caverns and caves in- 
to more habitable abodes. With the dawn of civihzation human 
needs assumed a diversified form and with the birth of every 
new desire and aspirations there grew also new means, devices 
and institutions for their realization. 

The world, too, soon experienced "that wonder which Plato 
called the beginning of knowledge." When the splendor of the hu- 
man intellect, the power of imagination and the beauty of the soul 
were recognized then also an appreciation for higher aims and pur- 
poses was born. When men began to throw off the shackles of 
oppression and think and act for themselves; when swords were 
melted into plowshares; when the peaceful pursuits in agricul- 
ture, commerce and industry began to assert themselves— then 
the nobler attributes of man also came to the surface. Govern- 
ment and law, art and science had their beginning. Human ef- 
ficiency began to assert itself. 

The progress made from the beginning of recorded history 
until the present day, rises as a colossal structure of human 
achievement. And yet that progress is not an unbroken succes- 
sion of forward steps. It is marked by setbacks and failure, by 
periods of decadence and decline as well as by ascendancy and ad- 
vancement. 

"Earth's upward struggle" says a modern historian, "has been 
baffled by so many stumbles that critics have not been lacking to 
suggest that we do not advance at all, but only swing in circles 
like a squirrel in a cage. Certain it is that each ancient civiliza- 
tion seemed to bear in itself the seed of self-destruction. Yet 
it may be held with equal truth that each new power, rising above 
the ruins of the last, held something nobler, was borne upward 
by some truth its rival could not reach." 

WHAT IS EFFICIENCY? 

The present high pressure stage of modern human eflSciency 
is demonstrated in the momentum and rapidity with which inven- 

4 



tions, improvements and reforms follow each other. What re- 
quired centuries of accomplishment is now accomplished in a de- 
cade; what was left to a lone man to espouse is practiced assid- 
uously by millions; every aspiration and tendency has its scores 
of champions. Today the most efficient is not he of infinite learn- 
ing but he whose learning in a given direction is intensified by 
specialization. 

If it were possible to subject the efficiency of one hundred 
thousand men, covering the various vocations and defined activ- 
ities of American life, to an experimental test, the results would 
not only prove interesting, but possibly most valuable. It would 
not only establish the average degree of ability with which men 
invest their work, but would reveal the degree of ability which go 
into the several activities. How do the farmer, the mechanic, 
the merchant, the manufacturer, the banker, the lawyer, the 
statesman, the clergyman, the educator, measure up in eflficiency? 
Do they reach a hundred per cent mark? Or do they fall con- 
siderably below the higher standard? 

Conjecture along these lines may prove futile, but it is reason- 
able to assume that perfection had been reached in exceptional 
instances only and that the average is far below the high-water 
mark. 

Efficiency, as now popularly interpreted, scored its first suc- 
cess in the field of manufacture. Its introduction came in the 
form of a generic force, touching many parts, combining many 
entities, dovetailing motion into motion, action into action, ad- 
justing and welding loosely jointed parts into powerful units, 
vitalizing and strengthening these into one grand unit, creating 
a related and compact whole. 

As applied to mechanics and the science of production it re- 
ceived its first introduction when the machine superceded hand 
work and when the factory system was inaugurated upon an en- 
larged scale. It was then that the economy of time, labor and 
money was recognized as a factor and that the ingenuity of man 
was applied in ascertaining the relative values of these factors 
and their advantageous application and combination. Experts 
sprang up like mushrooms and offered their services to manufac- 
turers, commercial and financial institutions, to governments and 
educational systems. In the main their services have been valu- 
able, but even the isolated case of error or inability has done some 
harm to the cause. 

5 



The elimination of waste, however, became a serious study. 
Men devoted their time to the subject and became experts. Ef- 
ficiency per se became a profession which invaded the industrial 
field, then reached out into the commercial channels and finally 
applied itself to various fields of human endeavor. 

The results attained here have warranted such a widespread 
acceptance of the doctrine of efficiency that an international 
movement for its further development has been inaugurated. 

It is this movement which has caused your presence tonight. 
You are a part of it. Its scope is at once broad and deep because 
in purpose it strives to serve the highest and noblest aims of life. 
It announces that its objects shall be the advancement and dis- 
semination of knowledge relating to efficiency, in organization 
and in method, in all branches of the world's work. Again, effi- 
ciency, within the purposes of this society, is defined as the best 
practical relation between the expenditure of human effort and 
the results of that effort in human benefit or good. 

What movement could be more purposeful or laudable? The 
world is full of ingenuity and ability, of noble impulse, of com- 
mendable aim and holy desire. These must be assembled, stimu- 
lated, organized. The instrumentalities of expression, of attain- 
ment, of realization must be provided. The world's work must 
be invested with that strengthening and efficiency if it is to 
render the highest measure of service to humanity. 

THE WORLD'S FIRST ASSET. 

Efficiency has its enemies not only in a mere bhnded oppo- 
sition, but also in those men who proceed mistakenly in its em- 
ployment. It has had these in all ages. Misinformation leads to 
misunderstanding, and misunderstanding leads to opposition. 
Light allays fears and restores confidence. 

The modern efficiency movement does not mean to grind labor 
in the interest of capital, or to cause a greater disparity in the 
distribution of wealth. It does not mean merely economy in 
production in order to enrich the employer at the expense of the 
employe. 

The current movements in behalf of safety first, vice crusades, 
eugenics, fire-prevention, anti-tuberculosis and clean-up cam- 
paigns, munificent endowments for colleges, libraries and hospi- 
tals, surveys in the interest of charity and social uplift, woman's 
suffrage, workman's compensation, disarmament, arbitration and 
world peace, are all in the direction of securing greater human ef- 

6 



ficiency. We may scoff at reformers and propagandists, but 
nevertheless we must admit that their efforts aim in the direction 
of a better and more congenial world. The Nobel prize cannot 
go to all men, but those who earn it are the recognized benefac- 
tors of their time and are entitled to our gratitude and praise. 

A writer recently said: ''Quality must not yield to quanti- 
ty, there must be no forfeiture of refinements or justice. Where 
the ideaUstic is unrecognized the humane is shouldered out by the 
mechanical, the machine glorified and the man behind the machine 
more or less subordinated." Very true and well stated, but ef- 
ficiency in its highest and best interpretation makes man the 
primary as well as the ultimate consideration. 

For instance, the failure of the French in constructing the 
Panama Canal and the success of the Americans in completing 
the same afford at once the greatest modern example of efficien- 
cy as well as inefficiency. It involves not only engineering pro- 
ficiency, but a recognition of all the elements that make for the 
physical well-being of man himself. It recognizes the fact that 
the human machinery which directs and controls the mechanical 
machinery, must have first attention. When the French ignored 
the sanitary conditions of the canal region and permitted their 
men to die of fever and pestilence, they violated the first and 
most important rule of human efficiency. They failed to reaHze 
that ''the common individual is the sublimest asset of the world." 

Thus, while efficiency means directness in thought and action, 
the elimination of circumlution, of superfluous effort, of waste 
energy, it is not confined to the field of mechanics or mechanical 
production, but applies itself to man, his physical, mental and 
moral well-being. 

SOUND BODY— SOUND MIND. 

It therefore also logically follows that all efficiency has its be- 
ginning with the condition of the physical man. A sound body 
is a prerequisite to a sound mind. We owe, consequently, our 
greatest debt to medical science. When it emerged from blood- 
letting quackery of the centuries past to a conservation of the 
elements that make for physical vitahty, a boon was conferred 
upon mankind. When it subdued disease and prolonged human 
life, it made the greatest contribution to human efficiency. 

But the student of the human body and the chemist are not 
the only ones that have contributed to the physical well-being of 
man. The sanitarian and the mechanician, too, have promoted 

7 



health and longevity. The bathfoom found in the average 
American home is an ingenious utility which royalty could not en- 
joy even a half century ago. One vacuum cleaner takes the place 
of a thousand brooms. Street cleaning devices are not only 
designed to eliminate labor, but also to promote sanitation. The 
chemist has established the nutritive value of every food product. 
The physical man is guarded and protected in a thousand ways. 

While the physician has progressed the schoolmaster has not 
been idle. Pedagogy no longer attempts to pump or hammer 
knowledge into the immature mind through the means of com- 
bersome text-books, arbitrary discipline and tedious memorizing 
and routine. It understands the science of mind and proceeds 
along logical lines to awaken the latent faculties, arouse interest 
and develop the mind from within. The child is no longer ad- 
justed to the text-book, but text-books are adjusted to the several 
stages and capacity of human understanding. Psychology and 
pedagogy now travel side by side lifting the rising generations 
from darkness and ignorance into the light of knowledge by 
the shortest route. But here I do not deny that education must 
seek a wider diffusion and sink deeper. It must train the whole 
man, reinforce the three R's with the three H's — train the head, 
the heart and the hand. 

The same must be said of effort in the field of Charity. True 
Charity can no longer consist in the mere feeding of the hungry 
and clothing the naked; it must also lift the unfortunate into a 
self-sustaining and self-respecting being and restore him to so- 
ciety as an efficient member thereof. 

In the degree that efficiency is beneficial to society so inef- 
ficiency is harmful. It is a mistaken notion to hold that inef- 
ficiency is merely a local or individual disadvantage. If the care- 
lessness of your neighbor causes a fire on his premises which burns 
your house, if his ignorance causes a contagious disease which 
spreads to your family, if he causes bankruptcy which affects 
your pocketbook — his inefficiency is no longer an individual or 
isolated harm. 

It was the inefficiency of single persons that caused the great 
Chicago fire, the sinking of the Titanic and the Empress of Ire- 
land and the revolt in Mexico, and thus caused harm to many. 
Thus, society cannot stand aloof and hold that efficiency is 
merely a matter of personal advantage. It is a question of com- 
mon, mutual and reciprocal interest and concern. 

8 



There is another phase of the subject which is suggested at 
this point, namely certain tendencies and activities which are 
pursued in the name of progress and which really bear in them the 
seeds of inefficiency. They foster the conceits and vanities, the 
absurdities and abnormalities of a modern day and find their 
momentum, not in an aesthetic sense, but, in pure commercial- 
ism. 

The fashion prince who, in striving for the unique and chic, 
creates garments that are ungraceful and indecent in design, un- 
comfortable in wear and injurious to health, the chef who devises 
attractive food combinations devoid of nutrition and digestive 
qualities, the dramatist who exalts vice and crime and submerges 
the majesty of innocence and virtue, are not true champions 
of progress. Those who employ their genius in creating new 
appetites and allurements, new fads and fashions which weaken 
rather than strenghthen the physical, mental and moral man, are 
among the modern apostles of inefficiency. 

THE SMALLER THINGS OF LIFE. 

No records or series of records could adequately tell the story 
of the millions of improvements which have been made in the 
smaller accessories and devices designed to add to the convenience 
and comforts of life. 

I once entered a jewelry shop in Wales and to my surprise 
found it stocked with German clocks. I inquired the reason and 
was told that the English clocks were heavy, clumsy and expen- 
sive while the clocks made in the Black Forest of Germany were 
dainty in design, serviceable and moderate in cost. Efficiency 
was the determining factor here in the purchase of clocks. It 
meant better clocks for less money. 

A schoolmaster in Germany once showed me an American 
Yale lock which he had attached to the front door of his home. 
He was proud of this improvement as it obviated the carrying of 
a key weighing half a pound. The advantage, he said, was that 
the door locked itself, that now every member of his family had 
a key and that all the keys together weighed only one-half of the 
old-time house key. Tons of brass, copper and iron are wasted in 
Germany in monster locks and keys, with a maximum in invest- 
ment and a minimum of service. The invention of the Yale 
lock meant more service for less money. 

In recent years ornamental street illumination has received 
the attention of cities throughout the country. Suddenly pon- 

9 



derous cluster lights appeared everywhere. It was believed that 
the problem of street lighting had been solved, until it was dis- 
covered that there were those who had given special study to the 
subject of hghting and that efficiency here demanded a minimum 
of lamp properly located and a maximum of fight wisely diffused. 

Beauty, too, has been added to utility and thus has invested 
the trappings of human existence with the power of affording 
pleasure and elevating the mind. A modern crockery, furniture, 
or dry goods store is no longer a mere stock room. They are 
exhibits of the industrial arts where utility is combined with 
beauty in color and design. When art extended its influence to 
the industrial field and lent its touch to the product of the factory 
a great forward stride in progress was made. 

And many more things might be enumerated — where the old 
has been improved into the new — all designed to render a greater 
service to man, add to his convenience, comfort and happiness. 

A German philosopher a few years ago wrote a magnificent 
book on ''The Joy of Living." Inspired by this book, a German 
leader in industrial education carried the spirit of joy and enthu- 
siasm into useful employment, cultivating the joy and satisfac- 
tion of doing things worth doing, and in doing them well. What 
a splendid stimulus is here given to the cause of true efficiency. 

CONSERVATION AND EFFICIENCY. 

Someone has divided the history of this country into periods 
of exploration, colonization, exploitation and conservation. 
With the entrance of the twentieth century this country pro- 
claimed an era of conservation. It realized that it had been too 
wasteful in the use of its natural resources, and in the expenditure 
of human energy. The doctrine of conservation has since then 
been dealt with in the light of almost every human activity. 
But, is it not a fact that where true efficiency has been exerted 
that conservation has followed as a logical consequence? Does 
not efficiency precede as well as imply conservation? 

If we hold that efficiency primarily means order, system and 
economy, eliminating all waste of time, labor and substance and 
achieving results in the most direct manner, then we can also 
consistently hold that efficiency implies the conservation of na- 
ture's forces. 

In all new countries where natural resources abound on 
every- hand and where opportunities for material success await 
every man, the elements of conservatism and economy are apt to 

10 



give way to waste and extravagance. In parts of the older world 
where a pound of manure is as costly as a pound of bread the 
problem of human existence is a stern one and the problem of 
methods in rendering the soil productive is an acute one. In- 
tensive farming may be an old-world expedient which has grown 
out of dire necessity and which does not exist in the new world, 
but intensive farming, nevertheless, is an eloquent expression of 
efficiency. 

PROGRESS IN THE MECHANICAL WORLD. 

In the progress of the world the Great Republic, under whose 
fostering care we live, has a distinctive mission to perform. It 
is so situated upon the globe as to be free from troublesome neigh- 
bors, endowed with natural wealth, with free institutions, and 
unfettered from the traditions and evils of older nations. 

It, therefore, possesses the inherent powers that make for the 
highest expressions of human endeavor and the advantages essen- 
tial to world leadership. 

Let us see to what extent we have rounded our possibilities 
for pre-eminence in the field of industrialism. An authority in 
metallurgical engineering recently said: ''This record of ninety 
arc-furnaces and forty induction-furnaces in operation or under 
construction will come as a rude shock to those purblind Ameri- 
can steel-makers who seem to regard electric furnaces as an ex- 
pensive European fad, who do not see their possibilities and who 
think to save money by letting them alone. The old, old story 
is repeating itself, and American industries are again trailing 
after the European — five years or so after them. The joke would 
not be so hard on us if we did not usually pretend or profess to 
be leading the world. We may be leading the world in making 
profits, but in general this is not by virtue of our enterprise and 
superlatively good practice, but simply by reason of our abundant 
natural resources and high tariff, and in spite of very evident 
mossbacked conservatism and frequent lack of initiative in adopt- 
ing technical improvements." 

Another leader in the field of mechanical science gave voice 
to the following: "It is humiliating to realize that nearly all re- 
cent improvements in electric lamps, both arc and incandescent, 
bear the foreign trade-mark, in spite of the fact that electric 
lighting is, in the main, of American origin .... Similarly, in spite 
of all this country has done in the development of the steam en- 
gine, American manufacturers are far behind the times in the use 

11 



of superheated steam. . . .In not a few of the engineering trades 
we are, in this country, copying European products instead of 
compelUng them to copy ours as of yore." 

The editor of a leading American technical magazine recently 
said: "It would be easy to cite fifty or a hundred important in- 
ventions of the last quarter-century which have originated in 
Europe and have come into extended use there, and which have 

either merely been copied or in some cases almost ignored here 

When one views the whole field of engineering and industry, and 
particularly the progress of the last twenty-five years, it is hu- 
miliating to confess that, instead of being in the lead, the United 
States is lagging far in the rear." 

Equally regrettable is the fact that the large combinations 
have not always promoted true economy and service. The pur- 
chase and subsequent suppression of valuable inventions in a 
selfish spirit by great corporations has impeded rather than ad- 
vanced mechanical perfection. Prof. Duncan, an authority, 
says: ''The creation of combinations for the elimination of com- 
petition has caused the substitution of business intrigue for manu- 
facturing efficiency." 

The country must realize that in order to compete with the 
world in manufactured articles it must have as a prime requisite 
the trained mechanic. Industrial education has only made a be- 
ginning. Its greater task is yet to be performed. When foreign 
nations surprise us with new discoveries in the science of produc- 
tion, new inventions and new departures, which confer permanent 
blessings upon mankind, then we must awaken to the work that 
is still before us. 

A CHALLENGE TO COMMERCE. 
While the American people are concerning themselves with 
the science of production they cannot overlook the science of dis- 
tribution. ''Mere product production, however big and scientific" 
says an economist, "is useless without effective and efficient dis- 
tribution and exchange. Commerce, the great distributor of pro- 
ducts, demands for its successful conduct equally thorough and 
specialized training and methods." 

This being true we must not only rely for the sale of our com- 
petitive manufactured articles upon a domestic market but 
study and ascertain the possibilities of an extended export trade, 
and then apply our energy and ingenuity to secure it. 

12 



The United States has been rapidly changing from an agri- 
cultural country to one in which manufacture plays an important 
part. While the agricultural productivity of the nation has in- 
creased three-fold within the past half century the industrial pro- 
ductivity has increased five-fold, indicating that with an increas- 
ing population we are tending to become one of the great manu- 
facturing countries of the world. This will only be successfully 
realized in a widened world market. 

It is an admitted fact that the United States has neglected 
her merchant marine and has not fostered her foreign trade upon 
any comprehensive plan or with any degree of ingenuity or 
energy. She has failed to study the demands of foreign countries 
and to fully realize her own opportunities for supplying them. 

In recent years Germany has far outstripped the United 
States in the impetus she has given her industrial and commercial 
efficiency as demonstrated in her world trade. Her merchant 
marine which course the waters of the globe serve as commercial 
warriors and trade-promoters. 

If the United States is to hold and extend its place in the 
markets of the world it will, above all things, have to strive for 
commercial as well as industrial efficiency. Our exports consist 
of raw materials and food products rather than articles of manu- 
facture involving skilled labor. The day will come when this 
country will realize that it is economically unsound to export our 
raw materials and then buy them back in the finished product. 

'^Business has become so complex" says Dr. Holdsworthy, an 
economist, ''so highly competitive, so dependent upon other busi- 
ness, so sensitive to social, political and economic influences which 
are greatly increased with the widening of the market and the 
narrowing of the margin of profits, that those who are engaged 
in it successfully need a different equipment from that thitherto 
thought sufficient for the business man." 

The American manufacturer whose products are adaptable 
to the needs of other countries must learn to differentiate between 
the peculiarities of a domestic and foreign market. His selling 
organization must also study these foreign needs and the condi- 
tions and terms upon which they can be met. 

A catalogue printed in the English language or an English 
speaking salesman alone will not sell American goods in a foreign 
land. Both catalogue and salesman must address themselves 
to the customs and in the language of the country whose trade 

13 



they seek. They must recognize the commercial usage and cus- 
toms under which the seller must here deal with the buyer. 

Selling campaigns in foreign lands, too, frequently involve 
longer periods between sowing and reaping, between production 
and profit, than the impetuous and brisk Yankee is willing to ac- 
cord. He has not developed the faculty for that patient plodding 
and comprehensive planning which constructs with keen exact- 
ness and calm deliberation. 

The American business man must also cultivate both that 
temper and temperament and that sense of proportion which dis- 
tinguishes, between important things and trifles, enables him to 
minimize errors and blunders, conserve nervous energy and guide 
his commercial ship with a safe and steady hand. 

ROOM FOR FURTHER PROGRESS. 

While the civilized world has reason to assume that it has 
reached the highest stage of efficiency ever attained in its history, 
the realization has also gained ground that much more can and 
must be achieved. ''Throughout the world" says Lyman Abbott, 
"the people are demanding a more direct and controlling share in 
government and a better measure of social justice." What is 
true here is equally true in other fields of endeavor, and warrants 
the statement that the world's work is not performed in the most 
orderly, economic and efficient manner. Thus, if the subject 
assigned to me permits of any argument it must be in the direc- 
tion of the fact that much remains to be accomplished. 

With the advent of the telephone, the telegraph, the wireless, 
the moving picture, the phonograph, with aero flight and the 
monster ocean liners — in fact with every new invention the 
thought grows that human efficiency has reached its zenith. 
But, mechanical ingenuity is by no means exhausted. Nor 
have the various sciences reached their highest stage of perfec- 
tion. Nor has government reached its highest measure of ser- 
vice. 

As long as nations waste their own substance in constructing 
huge instruments of war, deny to the masses the blessings of 
civilization, deprive them of their liberty and a voice in govern- 
ment, there is yet much to be accomplished in human progress. 
When medical science has as yet failed to solve either the pre- 
vention or cure of all malignant disease, when the lawmakers and 
judges puzzle over the elements of equity and justice, when econo- 
mists find cruel discrepancies between wage standards and the 

14 



cost of living, then human efficiency has not reached its zenith. 

Charles W. Eliot tells us that ''peace-keeping, religious tolera- 
tion, the development of manhood suffrage, the welcoming of 
new-comers and the diffusion of well-being" constitute our five 
conspicuous contributions to the betterment of the world. 

Let us give ourselves full credit for our contribution to the 
cause of liberty and equality, for gigantic accomplishment in the 
field of science and mechanics, for grasp and daring in commercial 
enterprise, for our humanitarian attitude on international rela- 
tions, in fact for all laudable achievement, but let us not delude 
ourselves into that self-sufficiency which may render us uncon- 
scious of our own weakness, incompleteness and inefficienc^^ 

When the great American nation, the land of enhghtenment 
and progress is still dotted with dark spots of illiteracy and ig- 
norance; when our natural resources are still being despoiled; 
when a land of opportunity and of plenty reveals misery, poverty 
and starvation, there is evidence that the affairs of the human 
family are not j^et perfectly organized and directed. When me- 
chanical production is still wasteful; when bitter strife mars the 
relations between capital and labor, when statesmanship fails to 
realize its full obligation to an entire people, when the distribu- 
tion of the fruits of labor are subject to gross inequities, then the 
adjustments between man and man are still incomplete. 

The Great Republic must assert itself on behalf of true and 
lasting progress. It must take a leading position among the 
nations of the earth for that advancement which shall mean bet- 
ter men and women, physically, intellectually and morally. It 
must lead in the cause of liberty and justice, education and 
government. 

If such is the cause of the nation then it is also the cause of 
every integral part, of every man, woman and child. It is then 
the duty of every individual to strive for that efficiency which 
will enable him or her to render the highest measure of service 
for a better and happier existence of all mankind. 

The future development and well-being of the American City 
will depend upon its own efficiency in the industrial arts, in com- 
merce and transportation, in civic government and education, in 
social and moral effort. In order to be worthy of the great nation, 
as an integral part, it must perform its labors with intelligence, 
with energy and with enthusiasm. It must keep abreast with 
the great march of human progress. We Uve in an age of 
speed, speciaUsm and service and all must respond to its call. 

15 



Yes, go out and spread the gospel of efficiency; save all waste 
of human energy, of natural resources and of mechanical power 
to the end that it may lift the burden from the overworked, sober 
the idling rich into a sense of responsibility, banish physical pain 
and mental anguish; enable all children to bask in the sunshine, 
to laugh, sing and play, teach every man to contribute his full 
share to the world's work in accordance with his physical and 
intellectual capacity, that each may add his mite to the peace, 
prosperity and happiness of an entire human family and to the 
making of a better world. 



16 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



029 976 018*2 41 



4 



